News-Record.com

While the tennis world remains focused on that swank suburb in south London, John Isner is back in Tampa, getting ready for his slate of upcoming tournaments.

It's an important stretch for Isner (I know, aren't they all?) because he's finally reached his one-year anniversary in pro tennis. To explain one more time, pro tennis rankings are taken from a 12-month snapshot. In other words, your ranking as of July 1, 2008 includes all your results from July 1, 2007 - July 1, 2008. A week later, it's all your results from July 8, 2007 - July 8, 2008 and so on.

Up until now, becuase Isner had no past history beyond his first pro tournament, a Futures tournament in Chico, Calif. that began on June 25, 2007, Isner was only in accumulation mode. Every point he earned helped boost his ranking.

Now, while Isner is still earning points with each match he wins, he's also "losing" points that he had accumulated in tournaments that are now over 12-months old. For example, Isner won that Futures tournament, earning 18 ranking points. After Wimbledon, those points will be subtracted off his total (he had 504 ranking points coming into Wimbledon). Isner got five ranking points just for making the main draw at Wimbledon, but he'll still come away with a net loss of 13 points after this week, which will probably drop him a few spots in the rankings from his current perch at No. 83.

Next up though, is an opportunity for Isner to make up some of that lost ground. He's playing in the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport, RI on July 7. Isner has two things going for him here. One, it's a grass court tournament, so the speed of the surface is fast. Two, it's right after Wimbledon, so most of the heavy hitters on the tour will skip it. Based on the rankings of the entrants in last year's field, Isner will likely be about a No. 5 seed, the first time he's been seeded in an ATP event in his career.

Last year, Isner lost in the first round at Newport, earning zero points. So if he can win, for example, two rounds this year, he'd pick up 40 points and likely bump his ATP ranking up into the 70's.

After Newport, it's time to start tuning up for the U.S. Open. And it's a return to the surface that I think suits him best, American hard courts. He starts off with a tournament in Indianapolis on July 14.

Isner will need sucess during this stretch, because early in August, he will reach the one-year anniversary of his run to the finals of the Legg Mason tournament in Washington, D.C. While that tournament put him on the map in American tennis, it also earned him 140 precious ranking points, which will disappear from his total the first week in August.

It's a critical amount, because right now Isner is still ranked high enough to qualify for entrance to most ATP tournaments. If he drops back into triple digits, he'll have to either get a few wild cards and get hot in another tournament soon, or go back to building up his ranking on the challenger circuit.

But that's still a month off. There are matches to be won, and ranking points to be earned, in the next few weeks, beginning in Newport.